Ruling elite in the West needs terrorists to prolong their war on terror: Joachim Hagopian

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Regarding Ayat. Khamenei’s second letter to youth in west, former US Army officer and columnist Joachim Hagopian says the ruling elite in the West needs terrorists to extend their endless war on terror.

Joachim Hagopian, a columnist at Veterans Today and a former US Army officer, believes that Ayatollah Khamenei’s letter appeals to ‘our common values of altruism’ and brings to light the dangerous brainwashing policies of Western ruling elites who have been profiting from war for centuries by manufacturing enemies based on ideological propaganda:

The Leader’s letter on terrorism as a common worry for both the Muslim world and the West is specifically addressed to the youth. What is the significance of that, in terms of the time of the letter’s publication, the nature of the terrorist attacks and the global reaction to them?

I think the Leader of Iran chose to address his letter to young people in the West because so many of the jihadists are young Westerners. Obviously young people are at an extremely impressionable age and knowing that ISIL recruits so many individuals from online social networks, the Leader hopes to appeal to their sense of humanity and compassion toward others. After witnessing these type of terrorist acts increasing over time, two major events in Paris alone this year, Ayatollah Khamenei felt the need to reach out and connect with young people hoping that his heartfelt words may somehow resonate and perhaps make a positive difference in those who are vulnerable to being swayed in the wrong direction. He is appealing to our common values of altruism, understanding and spirituality in efforts to bridge the gap dividing people especially in these times we’re living in.In the letter, the Leader speaks of how Western interventionism is a major cause for the formation of terrorist groups such as ISIL, al-Qaeda, and the Taliban who are wreaking havoc both in the Muslim world and in the West. What is your take on this? Doesn’t this actually undermine the whole xenophobic and Islamophobic propaganda of the West as inherently hypocritical?

To a person who maintains an open mind and is open to the truth, letter’s point about Western interventionism causing terrorism should not induce either xenophobic or Islamophobic feelings. I go a step further in saying that Western leaders created jihadist terrorism, for many decades with US taxpayer dollars they’ve fended it, they’ve armed terrorists, trained terrorists, used US military to protect and defend terrorists on the battlefield. The ruling elite in the West that’s been profiting from war for centuries manufactures enemies based on ideological propaganda, brainwashing, miseducating and misinforming generation after generation of Americans into believing the enemy is a bad guy who must be killed. Pure brainwashing. The elite needs terrorists to extend their endless war on terror. So US Empire foreign policy rests on war, be it covert or overt. Use of drones is to turn people in the Middle East and North Africa into hating America and driving them to join terrorist groups like ISIL. It’s all for the profit, power and control of a ruling elite who own the central banking system and the military industrial complex. It’s highly ignorant and hypocritical to ever buy into the xenophobic and Islamophobic propaganda. Unfortunately the policies of Western leaders are exploiting and polarizing uninformed, ignorant individuals into buying into the anti-Muslim, anti-Middle East sentiments, particularly in light of the major problems associated with the current and ongoing refugee migration crisis in the West. But the elite’s agenda is to divide and conquer humanity, creating religious and race wars. The elite promotes and feeds off of fear and hatred to gain greater control over the masses.

The Leader says in the letter that the “insecurity and strain” experienced by the Western youth following the Paris attacks “differ from the pain that the people of Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan have been experiencing for many years.” Why do you think a terror attack in Paris causes so much outrage and global solidarity but attacks in larger scales in the Middle East barely affect Western people?
By sociocultural design, there is an inbred disconnect between the West and those from Eastern cultures. Seeing young people who look like them being massacred will automatically stir up an emotionally reactive response because they more easily see that terrorism could happen to them too. Unfortunately the disconnect largely comes from and is maintained by disinformation and propaganda from mainstream media. Because violence in the Middle East in people’s minds has been going on for so long, for many all their lives, they become desensitized and because the media promotes barriers, stereotypes and ignorance that separates cultures, religions and races, it becomes mere background noise the strife and bloodshed of people from ‘that’ part of the world. I brought up this point in my article on the Paris attacks, how 44 people being blown up in a Beirut marketplace was ignored by both the press and Westerners too busily caught up grieving for people who look more like them in Paris. The Western mainstream media is controlled by six oligarchs and they are master manipulators with an agenda to keep people afraid, confused, angry, and ignorant. Today human connectivity based on similar needs, family values and even similar guiding religious/spiritual principles are rarely featured in any mainstream news or entertainment mediums.

Joachim Hagopian is a West Point graduate and former US Army officer. After the military, Joachim earned a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and worked as a licensed therapist in the mental health field for more than a quarter century. He now concentrates on his writing and has a blog site at Empire Exposed. He is also a regular contributor to Global Research and a syndicated columnist at Veterans Today.